ACTU – Government must act now to ensure future for Ford workforce

6 October 2016

With the closure of Ford’s plants in Broadmeadows, Australia once again sees an example of the Federal Government’s failure to manage structural adjustment in the economy, and working people are suffering as a consequence.

The Turnbull Government must act now to help workers from Ford retrain and bring forward infrastructure projects and investment in new technologies to give working people, and others in disrupted industries, a future.

Quotes attributable to ACTU secretary Dave Oliver:

• "This is a sad day for the Australian manufacturing industry and for the workers and their families. We stand on the brink of completely losing the car industry in this country, and the Turnbull Government has no plan to help these workers find work in the future.”
• “The Abbott-Turnbull Governments brought on the end of the car industry, and the Coalition now needs to take responsibility for the workers whose lives have been profoundly affected by that decision.”
• “We know that this is not the last industry that will face significant change in coming years; workers across the economy are facing uncertain futures for a wide variety of reasons. The common thread is that the government has no plan to help any of them find long term work”
• “Unless the Federal Government starts showing some leadership and starts supporting workers in industries that are changing, we are going to have many thousands more workers in the position that the workers at Ford find themselves today.”
• “Australian Unions want see new jobs in major projects, clean technology, ports and submarine building projects. The Federal and State Governments must act now and bring forward major infrastructure projects to create new roles. There is no more time to waste.”
• “We need a skills audit to assess employees’ current skills sets and identify opportunities for retraining prior to retrenchment. A high quality, vocational education and training system must be properly funded to support this. Past learning should also be recognised to ensure that workers focus on developing new skills that can be used in future employment.”